Hello everyone.

Do you have faith in fakes? Does your Fortress of Solitude have that little matchbox full of feathers and pebbles from your childhood? Can you remember when the world was full of potential and not drowned out by the endless overwhelming stream of darkness? Then, MAYBE, you have come to the right place.

There is a place for darkness in the world and there is a place for light and comics provide a great introduction to the ways of the world.

When I was young I read 2000 AD. Only 8 pence a week nearly 30 years ago and I learned about the world through it. I read Spiderman and Fantastic Four in Marvel reprints, 'reliving' for the first time the ups and downs of what it was to be a superhero (and genning up on some cool 60s fashions at the same time - Mary Jane was cool, Johnny Storm was a hothead in every sense of the word, Peter Parker - you should have been a hero not on JJJs most wanted list. Great times.

And they still are. It's as much fun reading those originals as it is reading today's comic fare. The Authority, Transmetropolitan, Dark Knight, 100 Bullets, Daredevil, Top Cow, Vertigo, DC, Dark Horse, Marvel.

And I know that through ComicSpace and the friends and recommendations here, there will be a whole new level of comics that will be easy to keep up with and enjoy. All my friends here... I'll be checking out your work and telling you just how much I enjoy it all.

The Golden Age hasn't gone away. Its just become the new Golden Age in a continuous churning reincarnation to suit the times.
So.... who do I really like?
Frank Miller
Alan Moore
Neil Gaiman
Grant Morrison
Michael Bendis
Garth Ennis
Warren Ellis
Kevin O'Neil
Brian Bolland
Hayao Miyazaki
Glen Fabry
John Byrne
Doug Moench
Matt Wagner
Steve Moncuse
Archie Goodwin
Mike Barr
Kurt Busiek
and on and on.

(Is there no-one he doesn't like? Well not really. I read Cracked, Mad and Plop, EC horror, Warren's 1984 as well as Crazy, Whoopee, Dandy and the Beano so I have always just devoured every comic I have found and enjoyed them all, some more than others. Including a pile of Bunty comics that our neighbours gave us and they were still fun - nice, if basic, artwork and a succession of secret diaries and fantasy stories aimed at teen girls).

Today I still read and enjoy and also get involved in publishing some as well. Fellow ComicSpace members, DSComics, are facilitated by KamPra Comics and we have pile of story lines that are waiting the right inkers, artists and letterers with themes ranging from Asian Gods in the modern day to contemporary road movies in graphic form to not quite so straightforward vampire road movies for comics to historical variations on the lives of great men and women.]

And it's so easy now to publish yourself (if all you want to do is to get your stuff out there). No more mimeos, Xeroxes or plain old photocopies. Now your full colour comics can be published on the web for everyone to see and enjoy and that's a step forward.

If you make money from it even better, and to be honest who wouldn't want to make money doing what they love? I was invited by a major printer manufacturers to a showcase recently (I wont give their name here) and they demonstrated to me a new print system that would cost only 8 pence (its that number again) to print A3 sheets in production quality colour.

Think about that. For 8 pence (that's 16 cents US approx.) you can get 4 to 6 pages in professional quality, that's less than 64 pence for 32 pages in full colour! Self publishing in hard copy has never been easier and I hope we see more of it and I also hope that some of those little ventures become as successful as the current greats as well. There's room for everyone. Hop aboard.

WELL DONE JOSH - COMICSPACE IS THE PLACE TO BE.